“The Big Fear” is the first novel for screenwriter Andrew Case. Case also saw 10 years of work as in investigator for the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board and it is that experience that forms the basis for the plot of “The Big Fear.”

Leonard Mitchell, the protagonist, is an investigator with DIMAC, the Department to Investigate Misconduct and Corruption, who takes over when his boss is murdered during the investigation of possible corruption in the Harbor precinct of NYPD. Leonard is also put on a case to determine whether the shooting of a cop by another cop is justfied or not. Mitchell suspects that the shooter is telling the truth that he saw a gun in the hands of the off-duty cop on a seemingly deserted freighter he was checking out. In the process he discovers a connection between the NYPD and a Wall Street firm getting rich by shorting certain companies just before an unfortunate incident takes down their stock value.

“The Big Fear” has a very dark premise that there are many dirty cops in the NYPD and people higher up in city government who can make life pleasant or unbearable at their whim. They have their tentacles into the stock market and control the fate of companies around the world. For people who run afowl of these dark forces it could be a death sentence, or at the very least a reason for being assigned to an undesirable department within the NYPD such as Property or the Harbor division.

I felt that the book got off to a slow start. There is a fair amount of jargon in the book that just people inside NYC government will know. I also had to warm up to the main characters and that took a bit of time, but in time it was clear that Leonard and the cop who was framed, Mulino, have the personal integrity and heroism to get to the bottom of the conspiracy.

“The Big Fear” is recommended for political and financial thriller lovers.

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